American Idol Season 10 Top 8 Live Blog

It has been nearly a week since the great tragedy of American Idol Season 10 transpired. Pia Toscano will be all right and so will we. What we have left is one of the best, and probably the most diverse, group of American Idol performers we have ever seen. Christian music performer Jacob Lusk leads our American Idol Season 10 Top 8 Power Ranking. Christian music artist Scott McCreery is having a wonderful season. He established his personality early and has gradually showed more and more of his singing and performing talents each week. Christian music performers Lauren Alaina and Stefano Langone have had great moments and some not so great moments, but they both appear to be pretty popular.

This week American Idol Season 10 will take on “music from the movie.” Themes this broad are filled with potholes. There are many, many bad song choices for the Idols and we have seen many previous Idols make those bad choices. However, the American Idol Season 10 performers have surprised us every week. Last week’s rock n roll night was pretty terrific. I am anxious to see what these guys can do with movie music.

Please join us as we live blog the movie music performances by American Idol Season 10‘s Top 8.

Paul MacDonald is wearing the black version of his white rose suit. He is singing first so he will be on the bubble tomorrow night. Will.I.Am decided to stay on American Idol Season 10. Paul is trying to capture last week’s good time vibe with Bob Seeger’s “Old Time Rock n’ Roll.” Paul MacDonald always seem to have a great time and he has some very natural frontman moves. This is a good song for him and his voice. Jennifer Lopez is right that he is pushing and growing every week. Overall, Paul overcomes his weak vocals with an infectious stage presence. That should be good enough to overcome his slot as the opening act of the night.

Lauren Alaina is doing “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. Ugh! Jimmy Iovine is right that Lauren Alaina is a much better singer than Miley Cyrus. Will.I.Am is turning into a very good mentor. This is tough for me because I don’t like this song. She sang it very, very well. It seemed that she connected to the song in parts, but I think she needed to dig deeper. J-Lo, Randy and Steven all liked it and think she is on her way back. She seemed comfortable and she sang “The Climb” well. I think Lauren Alaina could have done more with that song.

Lauren Alaina‘s post performance interview is 16 year-old cute.

Stefano Langone is doing “End of The Road” by Boys II Men. Jimmy Iovine and Will.I.Am spend some substantial time pulling Stefano out of a funk from last week’s results. I wasn’t too sure about his performance at the beginning, but he hit a groove in the middle of the song and wrung all of the emotion from the song. That was a gut wrenching version of “End of The Road.” I actually liked it better than the original. Randy said he slayed the song and that it was his best performance of the season. I agree with Steven that he milked that song for all it was worth. If that does not keep Stefano Langone out of the bottom 3 nothing will.

Scott McCreery just blew it by backing off “Everybody’s Talking”. He switched to “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait. Scott had a chance to create a very exciting moment by putting his country spin on a great pop song. Instead he chose a middling country ballad that he knows and loves. He sang it beautifully but it was pretty blah for me. Randy and J-lo cannot criticize. Randy lauds Scott McCreery for staying true to his roots. Maybe I am too hard on Scott but I think he could have and should have done more. Not my favorite night for Scott McCreery.

Casey Abrams steps up to his bass next to perform”Nature Boy” by Nat King Cole, wearing an ascot. He defied the mentors in the song selection and Jimmy Iovine is ticked-off. Jimmy Iovine was right. This would have worked in the back of a smoke-filled lounge with six people in the room. I very much do not like his sighs and his growls. This was very jazzy, stretching notes and going atonal. The judges give him a standing ovation. Randy is name dropping Herbie Hancock and Charlie Mingus? Randy called it genius. That may have been brilliant in the studio but I don’t think it translated through the tube. I think Casey Abrams is in trouble.

A very emotional Casey Abrams broke into tears after he stuck to his guns and did something that had never been done on Idol. I am happy for him. The judges kept dropping Grammy references, but remember that America does not vote on the Grammys.

The mentors are giving Haley Reinhart a lot of love. Haley is doing Blondie’s “Call Me.” Her voice may be a little too breathy to do this song. It seems Haley has only one stage emotion– happily coy. The start was a bit rough and I am not sure she brought anything new to the song, until the end. Right at the end she kicked into a Haley Reinhart growling, groove and it started to work for me. It seems the judges are as luke warm as I am. This song really did not show her voice in the best light and I don’t think she connected with the vapid, desperation of the lyrics.

Jacob Lusk has about six songs he can sing from Pursuit of Happyness. He is doing “Bridge Over Trouble Water”, a big song. A very humble Jacob Lusk did whatever Jimmy Iovine told him. Oh my gosh. The end of that song was mind blowing. I was a little worried halfway through the performance but he dug in the second half and took us to a new dimension. A dimension that only Jacob visits. The judges were flabbergasted by his vocal prowess. Randy is right in saying that Jacob Lusk feels his songs and makes us feel the songs. I cannot describe the beauty of what he did at the end of that song. If you did not hear it, check in tomorrow and I will have a video in the results post. That was incredible.

Once again Jacob Lusk gives glory to God after his performance.

We close the night with James Durbin singing Sammy Hagar’s “Heavy Metal.” James Durbin is getting a little cocky with Jimmy Iovine and told them he was doing what he wanted to do. This is obviously what James Durbin looooves to do. A little too much guitar solo in the middle. That was pretty darn good… and a lot of fun. The song really did not go anywhere but James’s performance was exuberant and exciting. J-Lo loved it and Randy was hooting at the end of the song. Randy called it unbelievable. “Durbin rocks, Durbin rocks,” said Randy. Steven said excellent.

I don’t know about tonight. I was not blown away. Jacob Lusk delivered the most amazing vocal tonight. Paul MacDonald and James Durbin had the most fun. Stefano Langone gave the most complete performance.

Join us tomorrow night as we cover the results. You never know what will happen.

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